Two for the price of one - Academy 3 3rd October 2009

Saturday afternoon im there, giddy as a schoolgirl goin' on a My Little Pony weekend when me ol' mate Quinny texts to see if im going to the Academy 3? Im reliably informed that my showbiz pals Sugarwood are on the bill at the last minute! I got really giddy then as my other superstar mates Razorcuts were on as well. I could here the dulcet tones of the Moose as i climbed that dodgy staircase, I'll tell you what though, what a mint venue! Moose and the boys were on fine form, especially Moose, im mesmerised every time i see him, even when i saw him in Wilkinson's in Eccles buying a plant pot! After Sugarwood came my, well i don't think they'll mind me sayin...they're like brothers to me! (hang on while i wipe my tears)Razorcuts are one of those bands who really do get better with age and that's just as well as their combined age is 329 years! From their early Duchy days to big time Academy gigs, Philthy Phil and the gang have worked dead hard to get where they are and it really shows in their attitude and more importantly their song writing. My favourite song is Destiny and lead singer Mic Stand gives it everything, at one point during their performance he was dragged off the stage by adoring fans, although it could have been some unruly students. A great night all round, you've really gotta see these bands when you get the chance..............they're proper Salford!!!!

                        photos courtesy of KB

Video suddenly appears after 24 years (sounds like an 80's lyric)

'OH......MY......GOD' have you seen that video in the latest episode of SMTV? Yeah that's the one, where everybody in it looks like a cross between Mick Hucknall and Ben Volpierre (that bendy, berry wearing bloke from 80's band Curiosity Killed the Cat) Some good bands on though! M16, Poppy Day and Code of Arms to name a few. Paul 'I'll film it when im ready' Wallworth assures the Salford Music staff he will be putting all the performances on the Salford Music TV 'you tube' channel. Salfordmusic.com would like to take this opportunity to thank Ross Drake for suddenly remembering he had the video under his bed for 24 years......nice one Ross!

Same As It Ever Woz - Live at the Hells Angels Club

My mate Jack Crossley plays in a band called Same As It Ever Woz so a few weeks ago he said 'ive got a gig at the Hells Angels Club' I looked at him and said 'your going to America to do a gig? Sweet!', 'No Salford Dave not America...Cadishead', 'oh right' i said...anyway I turns up in my new Blue checked shirt and Denim.....Note to self, Never wear a Blue checked shirt and Denim to an Hells Angel club! talk about standing out in a crowd? Everybody was in Black apart from me, I went outside to get some fresh air and only just got back in, the two 9 foot 3 Hells Angels on the door thought i was a plain clothes policeman, anyway you couldn't meet a nicer bunch of fella's and that's all im gonna say on the subject apart from Jacks band did an amazin job with their Punk covers, I was even tapping my foot along to 'Swords of a Thousand men' I would have got up and pogo'd but i didn't want to draw anymore attention to myself! Special thanks to Thorny for playing 'Another Brick in the Wall solo' its his party piece!

Salford Dave gets Fan Mail

God i don't know what all the fuss is about! the Salford Music Staff have been taking the Pi** out of me all week, i get fan mail get over it! Anyway i got a letter from a 'Salford Ann' (no relation) just telling me how she's a big fan of mine and she loves the Blog! (can't argue with that, its Smashing of you to say so) she recently went to the Salford Lads Club open day. Ann had wrote a comment in the Smiths room dedicated to me! Sound!!! (see pic) Send me a picture of yourself Ann, maybe we could meet up and go and watch the shy retiring 'RAZOR CUTS' at the Academy 3 on Saturday 3rd October (see what i did there?) If you have any comments regarding my so called 'Blog' email them to the site! keep it clean please!

That's it for now Blaggers!!!!

'And if you have 5 seconds to spare then I'll tell you the story of my life'

First of all I'd like to clear up a mis-understanding! I honestly thought I'd paid for those 6 chickens from Iceland! and no 'Kev' you never seen me running from the security guards on Salford Precinct! So where have i been, I'll tell you where ive been missus, painting bleedin fences and 'tidying' up local edges! Damn Community payback! anyway enough of that, so what's been happening? No seriously what's been happening?

I believe the brilliantly titled ZEEN has finally hit the shops, Jon Coupe got his best Scissors out (never use unsupervised) and a couple of pipe cleaners and has produced the award wining Salford Music Fanzine. Its sound! absolutely packed with stuff including Suzuki Method, Urban Blitz and ME! yeah the coupster has put a picture of me in the mag from when i was recording Sugarwood!you can download it for free here or at various outlets including the Crescent and the King Arms.

In other news Salford Music TV is to return (at last) the line up is yet to be announced but you can rest assured Adam 'man about town' Brown will be presenting it! I actually had a meeting with Adam and Nighty earlier this week about a possible 'Comedy' night being sorted at the Crescent Pub (Adam does a bit of Comedy himself........he thinks he's it!) so he was helping the 'Ken Goodwin' of Salford 'Nighty' with a few tips and tricks. I know what y'sayin! "But that's not music Salford Dave" try telling the Grumbleweeds that mate!..................its like ive never been away!

   Seriously can you imagine little ol' me carrying 6 of these bad boys out of Iceland.......Exactly! Case Closed!

As promised me and the Salford Music TV crew (Paul Wallworth, Mike Cuddy and SMTV new boy Alan Jones) went to film the shy retiring 'Sugarwood'. There was no messing about (well there was but after the serious work was done) The lads steamed into their track 'Meltdown' while the SMTV boys tried to keep up with my new bezzy mate Moose (see pics below) Their performance can be seen on Salford Music TV episode 9 out this weekend (28/06/09) along with a performance from local musician and magazine entrepreneur Scott Bray (he runs the brilliant and free Second City magazine (www.secondcityuk.com) Plus Adam Brown presenting from the Salford Music Exhibition (unless the fuzz come and arrest us!)

The Salford Music Magazine is almost ready, Jon Coupe has been cutting up bits of paper (with adult supervision of course) and sticking them on other bits of paper and using a variety of materials including kitchen roll, baking foil and nylon has come up with a excellent design! watch this space!

Me, Moose and Sugarwood at the Duke of York in Eccles

Earwax Problems getting you down? Misheard your friends and just smile? Try 'WHIPCORD' 100% Guaranteed to remove any unwanted earwax and get your life back on track!...........its not a real advert its what happened to me when i went to see the amazingly Brilliant and Loud Whipcord at the Crescent last Friday (19th June) The place wasn't packed but Whipcord still gave it everything. One of their songs is called 'See You & Tea', im there shouting 'Play See You & Tea' it's only after shouting it nine times it suddenly didn't sound like See You & Tea' but something else! Clever! anyway one of the band members mum was there, sound!   www.myspace.com/whipcord

Movin' on, last Thursday (18th June) me and Mike Cuddy (Photographer and all things Fuzzy Felt) went to see a fairly new band 'Sugarwood' What a brilliant night! We got invited by the band to go and watch them rehearse at the Duke of York in Eccles, and I'll tell you what, we were in for a treat, not only are the band Fantastic to listen to, but i found myself mesmerised by the singer 'MOOSE', you'll know what i mean when you see them live, if their rehearsals are anything to go by, fans of Punk and Good songs will be happy! Thanks to the Bands manager Graham for bringing some quality Butties which Mike devoured!

We are filming Sugarwood on Tuesday for Salford Music TV so stand by to witness the first full band to appear live on SMTV, fingers crossed! (see you down there Big Vern!)

Ive got that much going on i nearly forgot (again) went to meet Jason Edge from 'Jealous' at www.manchesterradioonline.com he introduced us to Paul who runs it and it looks like we'll be being interviewed at some point soon so I'll keep you informed on that one.

Picture the scene, im lying on the settee with a brew and my favourite book 'Fonts, who really Cares?' when I suddenly remembered 'The Salford Music Hour'. Now for those of you who have been spending too long wandering around Salford Precinct for no reason at all, the Salford Music Hour is a brilliant radio show on Salford City Radio 94.4fm hosted by Salford Music's very own Jon Coupe. Its on every Wednesday at 9:00pm till 10.00pm.

I tuned in to hear his calming but reassuring tones, 'Smashing' 'Super' 'Great' 'Knockout' 'Now then Guys n Gals' ' Here's what you would have won' 'ITS A BULLS-EYE' I must admit I thought I'd tuned into the Jim Bowen hour, but soon the delicate sounds of the Black Knights were pumping through my ear piece and I knew I was on the right station. Jon has interviews and live performances on his show, last night (10/06/09) he had the Chaddock Level on...bless em! If you ever miss one of Coupey's shows he has a fancy thing technically known as.....errrm...'the Play Again thing' anyway click here for more (not yet)

The Salford Community Media Partnership (SCMP) Magazine 'Salford Media Scene' is apparently available (a girlfriend of mine txt me a picture of Paul and Jon in the magazine) i believe its available from the Langworthy Cornerstone and I'll try and find out where else you can get it from, its full of all things Salford Media (but don't quote me on that!)

Cos ive been 'knocking my pan out' at Salford Music Wallworth and Coupe gave me a few days off. So i headed where all good Salfordians go, Blackpool, it was quieter than Salford Market when theres no flea market on! But i still enjoyed myself. (see pics below) I went 'all out' even treating myself to Fish and Chips and a Crafty 10 minutes in Mr 'B's Arcade (Live the Dream) anyway i lost about 80 pence, but had to leave as the hypnotic 'Go on stick another 10 pence in' effect was kicking in!

See you soon Blaggers, sorry Bloggers!

I know what y'thinkin! 'Salford Dave why don't you take off your hat its 112° in the shade?' Two words my friends Badly Drawn Boy ok three, but y'get what im sayin?

Well its gonna be another busy couple of weeks, the bosses here at Salford Music are currently putting a Salford Music Magazine together. They were recently invited by the Salford Community Media Partnership (SCMP) to star in their very own video. SCMP held their very first seminar and invited Salford Music layabouts Wallworth & Coupe (sounds like a dodgy loan company)to talk about Salford Music, who thought of it, where's it going, that type of thing, anyway it was packed, I was pleasantly surprised. Anybody who didn't see me there, I was the guy in the Denim, Sunglasses and cool hat! One of the main reasons for the seminar was to get more local people involved with the Salford Music Experience, photography, interviewing, journalism etc. we ended up with about 14 volunteers on the night and most of them are now actively working on the magazine. This latest project 'the Salford Music Magazine' has been funded by the Ordsall & Langworthy Community Committee and supported by the Seedley and Langworthy Trust (SALT)

The video of the night is about 2 hours long, so given the choice I recommend 'Wolverine' but a 6 minute version is being sent by pigeon as I type so I'll get the 'Coupe' to upload it (good luck with that!). Local musicians the Harpbreakers and Robin Pickford (SMTV episode 8) were there to provide the entertainment, Suite 57 geezer Mark Byrne did the interview and I've gotta say a big Salford shout out to Linda Robson for organising the event on behalf of SCMP. When I arrived she was panicking 'no ones gonna turn up' but I had a quick look round the door and told her 'you'll be lucky to get a mic stand in there, its that full.

Im sure there was something else I wanted to tell ya'...errrm....oh yeah check out my photo shoot with Francesca Haig click here

Thanks to Mike Cuddy and Catherine Wood for the Seminar photos

"A well knackered Salford Dave here, went to the Crescent Pub Gig last night, I thought its a nice evenin' I'll walk it! Got about 150 metres and my Doc's were killin me! I've had em for about 5 years and they wont be broken! it took me about an hour to get there, next time, trainers!

When I finally got there, I was on me'todd, just a couple of band people setting up, I thought here we go, its gonna be one of those nights, but eventually somebody must have got onto 'rent a crowd' and the place was packed. The first band 'Drama' seemed such nice lads until they started playing their rock thang, its then I realised the huge black boxy thing I was sat next to was a speaker, it literally blew my sunglasses off! Next up was Pop Fosters and yes its true I do have a crush on their drummer Sara, there I've said it! I love their stuff even though they're not from Salford, their songs are short snappy and in your face missus! they managed to get through 47 songs in a 25 minute set (you do the maths)

and finally Cyril' Kaoss. What can I say, they all remind me of my uncle Vinny (yeah the one in prison) but I'll hand it to em' they deliver a nice slice of Punk pie to which I was stuffing my face with!

It was Nighty's first time as a gig promoter and apart from a few technical problems blah blah blah it was a great night and I met some great people, especially Grayso and the Change's Foz, so if this is a taste of what's to come in the future its fair to say Salford Music is now officially 'LIVE'

Oh nearly forgot, Big thanks to Salford Music volunteer Mike Cuddy for taking the official photos (not these ones)

21/05/09

"Hey, not long now before the Salford Records 'Crescent Gigs' get under way, im Buzzin'. I got me' mam to run the iron over my best denims, and im ready to go! The first gig is Saturday 23rd May, with Kaoss, Pop Fosters and Drama, three bands on in one night? How does Nighty do it? Anyway the whole thing starts about 8:00pm so get down there!

Forgot to tell you, Tuesday, I went do a live recording of the Salford Blues Band 'the Harpbreakers' with Salford Music volunteer Sam Twyman of http://www.purelightmedia.co.uk (he's good!)

I just gotta say a big 'Thanks' to the guys for letting us interrupt their rehearsals for their new album. Francesca did some more photos for us and yeah, it was a great night! (note to self.....get mam to do me a flask and maybe a couple of Prem butties next time, I didn't get in till 10:00pm)

I believe Salford Music TV episode 9 is almost ready (I still think im better than that Adam Brown bloke but eh, give the lad a chance I say)im gonna be at the next filming of Salford Music TV so I'll get some behind the scene pics, and maybe, if the boss lets me, even appear in it!"

"That's it for now"

12/05/09

"Alrite, Salford Dave here, fresh back from my photo-shoot with Salford Music Volunteers Francesca Haig and Simon Howard. We had a mooch round Salford Quays and caused quite a scene down there, my pics will be up soon!

There's tons of stuff that goes on behind the scenes at Salford Music so ive been given the job of letting you know about it. Somebody asked me 'is it like a blog?' to which i replied 'Haven't got a clue what your on about mate'

Last couple of weeks have been mad busy, i actually went to my first gig! Suzuki Method and Tombots at the Deaf Institute, i must admit i couldn't take my eyes of that wall of speakers behind the bar, they look well dodgy! but luckily the bands were top and i eventually managed to settle down and enjoy the show.

I heard a rumour that ex Fublic Dick frontman 'Nighty' had been organizing a series of Gigs at the Crescent pub in Salford, i managed to get hold of him and we arranged to meet at Ed Blaney's 'Basement Sessions' (which i'll tell you about in a bit) It's true, hes got about twenty dates lined up and some brilliant Salford Bands and Musicians are gonna be on the bill so check out our diary bit (not yet ive not finished) im gonna be interviewing Nighty soon so watch out for that!

Anyway, let me tell you about Ed Blaneys 'Basement Sessions'. Half seven, gets a phone call of Nighty 'D'ya fancy going to the Basement Sessions at the Hope pub in Salford?! im lay there, chillin out in my Primark loungewear just eaten a Baked Potato the size of a rugby ball. I get changed into my now famous Denim Jacket, Sunglasses and Wooly Hat (thanks Auntie Maureen). The cab drops me off and im greeted at the entrance by what seems about 8 doormen all wanting three quid off me (they obviously didn't know who i was) i reach for my pocket and then a voice says 'Hes ok let him in' the one and only Ed Blaney recognizes me (i'll get you that whiskey next time Ed!) the friendy doorman stamps my hand 'PAID' and im in.

I go downstairs and am greeted by some familiar faces, Bozz and Colly from Glam 69, that guy from Circus Animals Desertion (still can't say that) and Salford Music favorite Samir.

The evening kicks off with Bianca Blaney and Samir, Girl Peculiar and finishes with a brilliant set from Ed's band M.A.S.B.O. D'know what? it was a pretty good night, i spoke to Ed briefly during the night and he's hoping to have the Basement sessions on every 2 weeks 'nice one'